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HER ARMY. 




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Bj' ROBERT MACKENZIE. 




LONDON: 

T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; 

EDINBURGH; AND NEW YORK. 



186:;. 



AMERICA 


AND 


HER ARMY. 


y 


By ROBERT MACKENZIE. 

. ^ 


LONDON: 


T. NELSON AND SONS, PATERNOSTER ROW; 


EDINBUKGH; AND NEW YORK. 


1865. , " 



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PREFATORY NOTE. 




HERE has been nothing more unusual, in the 
course of the war now raging in America, 
than the care which the Northern people have 
exercised over their Army. It can scarcely fail to intro- 
duce a new era in the history of the Soldiers of Christian 
States. America has impressively reminded us of the 
duty we owe to the men who fight our battles. The 
noble lesson she has taught cannot be too carefully 
studied. Britain is proud of her Army ; and well she 
may, for no body of men have ever been more splendidly 
endowed with the highest soldierly qualities. But the 
British people have given themselves little concern about 
the welfare of these men. In the following pages an 
attempt is made to sketch the remarkable measures 
which America has adopted for the benefit of her Army, 
with the remarkable results which have been gained. It 
is earnestly to be hoped that the example will not be 



IV PRE FA TOR V NO TE. 

lost upon US. It would be an interesting, and it is by 
no means an improbable consequence of this contest, 
that the condition of our own and of other European 
Armies should be permanently ameliorated by the ex- 
ample which America has given. 

Dundee, Fdruaiy 1865. 



AMERICA AND HER ARMY. 




HEN the Slave-owners' Rebellion broke out the 
American army numbered about twelve thousand 
men. A few months afterwards it numbered three- 
quarters of a million. A mighty influence had 
passed through the land. Modern history does not record 
another popular uprising of dimensions so huge, of enthusiasm 
so intense. An immense multitude of vdiolly unskilled men 
rushed to arms. It was reasonable to fear that the vastness of 
the movement, and the untutored eagerness which inspired it, 
would in a lamentable degree impair its efficacy. England 
will long remember how an antiquated military system wrought 
the ruin of her brave army in the Crimea. America can 
scarcely be said to have had any military system or any military 
experience at all, when, suddenly, three-quarters of a million of 
men engaged in actual warfare became dependent upon her. 
It was possible for the Government to supply these men, while 
they were in health, with indispensable food and clothing, 
although even in these simpler details disastrous failure might 
well occur. But how was disease to be prevented from con- 
suming the strength of the army? How were needed attentions 
to be supplied to the inevitable multitudes of sick? ■ How were 



o CARE TAKEN OF THE AMERICAN ARMY. 

the wounded to be cared for with tolerable promptitude 1 What 
provision was possible for the moral welfare of the troops 1 A 
volunteer army of three-quarters of a million under a Govern- 
ment equally inexperienced with itself, was suggestive to all 
students of war of the most frightful miseries which it is possible 
to imagine. 

But the American army has been watched over with a loving 
care which no army ever knew before. It has had, in health and 
in sickness, physical comforts such as have seldom been en- 
joyed by soldiers. It has had a spiritual and intellectual pro- 
vision of unexampled copiousness. On its behalf has been 
exercised an amount of thoughtful, enlightened, energetic good- 
ness, the exhibition of which must open a new era in the 
history of armies. No Government did this; no Government 
could do it. Only a people could do it profoundly in earnest 
to secure the triumph of a great national cause. The people 
of America who sent forth armies to fight, themselves under- 
took the supply of their wants. It is my task to tell by what 
agency, and with what wisdom, and liberality, and noble self- 
denial this has been done. 

The darkest page in the bloody annals of war is that which 
records the fate of the wounded. By a few hours of the 
murderous toil of battle, thousands of men are suddenly stretched 
in helplessness and pain upon the field ; and our power to 
relieve suffering is immeasurably weaker than our power to 
inflict it. For hours and days men wounded and dying must 
lie uncared for in their agony. From one of Napoleon's fields 
the groans of the wounded rose for days " Hke the roar of a 
distant cataract," till slowly, and through untold agonies, the 
silence of death settled down over thirty thousand tortured 
and forsaken men. In some measure all battle-fields resemble 
this. It must be so. The soldiers of an army inflict more 
wounds in one day than the surgeons can bind up in many 
days. Tlicrc is no help for it. The poor woundt^d man must 



SUFFERINGS IN THE CRIMEA. 7 

wait his turn, which, under the best circumstances, may come 
late, and under the worst does not come at all. 

Equally imperfect, ordinarily, is the provision made for the 
spiritual welfare of the soldier. He is placed in circumstances 
of unusual temptation. His life is one of fierce excitement, 
followed by a reaction which too readily seeks the support of 
vicious indulgence. Those influences which in peaceful life 
restrain men from wickedness are here withdrawn. There is 
no public opinion to support feeble virtue. The motives which 
emanate from home are attenuated by distance. Evil example 
and seductions abound on every side. In camp there is in- 
sufficient employment, and idleness ever persuades to evil. 
A few chaplains accompany the army, but their influence is 
little felt. What are they among so many? It is a really 
deplorable fact, that States ordinarily impose upon die men 
who fight their battles costlier sacrifices than those of hfe or 
limb. The moral welfare of the soldier perishes under the pres- 
sure of those temptations to which his mode of life subjects him. 

THE LESSONS OF THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN. 

The care of the soldier has been left to Governments. For 
the most part, indeed, the soldier has filled no higher function 
than that of ministering with his blood to the passions of some 
despotic monarch, who bestows upon his instruments the 
minimum of care requisite to preserve in some tolerable degree 
their efficiency. It was during the Crimean War we saw the 
dawn of a better system. The English people sent forth their 
army to that war, and they trusted that the care of the Govern- 
ment would guard it against all sufferings which were not 
inevitable. But they learned ere long that their brave soldier's 
were perishing of hunger and cold and untended wounds. The 
condition of the army was indeed frightful. During the three 
last months of 1854 the mortality was at a rate which would 



8 LESSONS OF THE CRIMEAN CAMPAIGN, 

have annihilated the army in two years. In January 1855 it 
was at a rate which would have annihilated the army in ten 
months. The story of the sufferings which the men endured 
during that awful winter was most piteous to hear. England was 
moved as England had seldom been moved before. Government 
sent out a Commission with powers for tlie summary correction 
of all abuses. But it is not the action of Government, however 
effective that may have been, which interests us here. We now 
meet, for the first time in history, with the direct, systematic 
interposition of the people on behalf of their soldiers. A great 
national effort was made to relieve sufferings which were felt to 
be a national scandal. Every gift which the heart of man 
could devise, or the fingers of woman could frame, was eagerly 
offered by a grieving and indignant people. Nor was the yet 
more precious offering of personal service withheld. Ladies 
went forth, under the leadership of Miss Nightingale, to nurse 
the sick and wounded men in hospital. It was a new thing in 
war. From of old, kings had made war, and flung aside their 
poor tool the soldiei when wounds or sickness impaired his effi- 
ciency. Here, a great people make war, and they watch tenderly' 
over the brave men who have been disabled in their service. 

It was a noble example, and it has been greatly fruitful o( 
good. America has gained much wisdom from her study of 
that Crimean Campaign. Its history was vividly present to 
many of her leading minds. Its frightful waste of life — the 
certainty that if the lives of American soldiers were similarly 
wasted the rebellion could never be put down — the sanitary 
measures resorted to at length by the British Government, with 
their marvellously beneficial results — the direct action, by gift 
and personal service, of the British people, — all these topics 
were anxiously examined. And now, upon a scale very much 
greater, and with an organization very much more perfect, tlie 
system initiated before Sebastopol has l)een transferred to the 
camps and hospitals of the vast American battle-field. The 



A TTITUDE OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY. 9 

American Government supplies the usual food and clothing to 
the army, and has done it, upon the whole, regularly and 
copiously. But the agents of the American people are every- 
where present with ample stores of everything which men 
require, to place it beyond all doubt that the American soldier 
shall suffer no discomfort which it is possible to avert. There 
is a perfect fitness in this arrangement. For of this war it may 
be said, without qualification or reserve, that it is the war oi 
the people. No Government made it. It was from the outset 
the fixed determination of the Northern people that the nation 
should not submit to dismemberment. This is their own war, 
fought by their own sons and brothers, for the accomplishment 
of purposes which are dearer to them than life. It is fitting 
that they should assume the care of an army which is so 
emphatically their own. We do not understand aright the 
spirit in which the American people are fighting out this mighty 
quarrel till we know what care they bestow upon their soldiers. 

ATTITUDE OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY. 

There are those among us who are contented to know this, 
the greatest of contemporaneous transactions, only through the 
wild caricatures of some of our leading periodicals. By such 
persons it is still believed that the North is fighting in a frenzy 
of rage and hate — that the impulses of tlie war are the wicked 
lust of empire and thirst for blood — that a recklessness ot 
human life and suffering pervades the North — that the war is 
conducted in a savage spirit, unworthy of civilization. In 
presence of these assertions, one naturally reflects that there 
exists in America a very large body of Christian men and 
women- — intelligent, sincerely pious, and in a high degree 
energetic in good works. These persons are competent wit- 
nesses to the character of the war. Their attitude in regard to 
it is of singular interest to us. How has American Christianity 



10 ATTITUDE OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY. 

comported itself in this sad strife ? If the Churches have pro- 
nounced against the war, then may Ave with very considerable 
confidence hold that the war is Avrong. If the Churches give 
their deliberate and earnest sanction to the prosecution of the 
war, then may those of us who condemn it, with propriety 
inquire whether there is not something more in this question 
than they as yet have been able to discover. 

The Christianity of America gives forth no uncertain sound 
upon this subject. It has, from the very beginning, supported 
the war with a sorrowful, but deep determination, which no 
reverses have even for a moment affected. The goodness of 
America has thrown itself into this war with a resolution whose 
depth has not yet been fathomed. Too surely the bad people 
have been active in its promotion. But the enduring support 
of the war comes from the serious, thoughtful, Avell-living 
people. Some Northern politicians are opposed to it, but no 
Northern Christians. A profound conviction that the war is 
just and necessary pervades that class. The Northern Churches, 
without any exception, believe that the preservation of the 
national life demands the suppression of the rebellion. Their 
missionaries to the heathen have looked at the war from great 
distances, and therefore free from the control of popular im- 
pulse or prejudice. The American missionaries are the very 
flower of the Christian world. " I do not believe," said Lord 
Shaftesbury, " that in the whole history of missions, in the 
history of diplomacy, or in the history of any negotiations 
carried on between man and man, we can find anything to 
equal the wisdom, the soundness, and the pure evangelical truth 
of the body of men who constitute the American Mission. I 
have said it twenty times before, and I will say it again — they 
are a marvellous combination of common sense and piety." 
These American missionaries, so notable for their common 
sense and piety, give unanimous and earnest support to the 
war. They have proved tlicir devotion to the national cause 



COMPOSITION OF AMERICAN ARMY. 1 1 

by the most impressive evidences. Many sons of missionaries 
are now in the army : and many, it has been often remarked, 
have fallen. Dr. Scudder — a member of a family most of 
whom have been missionaries — took the earliest opportunity on 
his return lately from India to declare himself a Union man; 
" and one reason," he said, *' is because I am a religious man, 
because I believe in Government and in God." Dr. Bradley, 
a missionary in Siam, remitted three hundred dollars as his 
contribution to the expenses of the war; and as he did so, he 
said, " I regard the war, on our part, as one of the most 
righteous that was ever waged; and I see the hand of God in 
it so distinctly, and his merciful purposes for those millions of 
our enslaved brethren at the South so gloriously fulfilling, that 
my whole heart ascends to God in prayer continually for our 
cause." 

The fact must be accepted, whatever significance we may 
choose to assign to it, that American Christianity, intelligent 
and pure-hearted as we know it to be, has given to this war a 
support of almost unexampled unanimity and earnestness. 

If this statement is correct, the composition of the American 
army will furnish evidence of its truth. If the American 
Churches are perfectly in earnest in their support of the war, a 
very large number of Church members will be found in the 
ranks. That is the case to a very remarkable extent. 

COMPOSITION OF THE FEDERAL ARMY. 

It has been often said, and perhaps it is even believed by 
some, that the American army is composed in great part of 
foreigners, kidnapped or tempted by large bounties. No doubt, 
there have been kidnapped men in the American army. Cer- 
tainly there are foreigners in the American army. Red men 
are there, and black men, and every variety of white, from the 
Briton to the Chinaman. Of every kindred, and of every 



12 COMPOSITION OF AMERICAN ARMY. 

tongue, they have fed with their Hves the flames of this con-' 
suniing fire. And yet the amount of such aid has been wholly 
insignificant. It is in violent conflict with truth, that foreign 
mercenaries have played a part of any importance in the 
war. Substantially, and almost literally, American citizens 
have done this work. The ascertained proportions of native 
and foreign soldiers are these : — 

Native Americans ... .. 80 per cent. 

Naturalized ... ... ... 15 ,, 

P'oreigners ... ... ... 5 ,, 

These proportions vary in different parts of the country. In 
the East the native Americans are only 70 per cent. In the 
West they are close upon 90 per cent. .But everywhere the 
foreign element is present to a surprisingly small extent. It is 
probably the fact that in none of the wars in which Britain has 
been engaged was she so little beholden to foreign aid as 
America is now/ 

The American soldiers are in large measure a higher class of 
men than ordinarily compose the military force of States. A 
singularly large proportion are Christian men, who have offered 
their lives to this war under a deep conviction that the cause 
was worthy even of so great a sacrifice. It is not pretended 
that the American army is an army of saints. It is not pre- 
tended that Cromwell's principle of recruiting has been adhered 
to. " I raised such men," said the Protector, " as had the fear 
of God before them ; as made some conscience of what they 
did." On the contrary, it is well known that much of the 
ruffianism of large towns was swept into the ranks. The worst 
characters in the land became soldiers ; and also the best. 
From workshop and farm, from the bar, the pulpit, the exchange, 
from homes of wealth and refinement, came forth, of their own 
free will, the men who have been the strength of the Northern 
armies. It is true beyond the possibility of doubt that a larger.. 



NORTHERN OFFICERS. 13 

number of sincerely Christian men are fighting in this war than 
ever fought in any war before. Scarcely a church or Sabbath- 
school is Avitliout its representatives in the army. Some con- 
gregations have given whole companies. Young Men's Christian 
Associations have given regiments in one or two instances, and 
large numbers in very many. The churches of America are 
estimated to have sent to the war about one-seventh of their 
male communicants. In many of the Western churches this 
proportion has been largely exceeded. The story is told of a 
pastor in one of the Western churches from whose congregation 
fifty-one men volunteered into the army. They were all the 
men capable of military service that his congregation contained. 
They assembled to listen to his parting word of exhortation. 
But the good man seeing they were all to go, determined to 
accompany them. They elected him their captain, and under 
his command marched off to the war. Many such cases have 
occurred. Many of the smaller churches have been left without 
pastors, and almost without men. There is an Illinois regi- 
ment officered almost wholly by clergymen. The Bible classes 
have furnished an immense number of recruits. John Henry of 
Indiana was the teacher of such a class. Nearly all his pupils 
enlisted. He felt responsible for them still. He said, " The 
great Shepherd will demand them at my hands. I wish to give 
a good account of my trust. I must care for the souls for 
whom He cared." So he enlisted too. He fell in a skirmish 
in Kentucky — stricken down by a wound which was plainly 
fatal. A bullet had passed through his face, inflicting frightful 
injuries. " I am happy," he murmured; " for when the Master 
came he found me at my appointed work." And thus he died. 
Among the officers as among the soldiers of the Northern 
armies are many who " have the fear of God before them, and 
make conscience of what they do." Unquestionably, many 
bad men hold the American commission^men haughty of 
heart and bloody of hand. Nevertheless it is the fact, that 



14 NORTHERN OFFICERS. 

while the American officers as a body will bear comparison 
with the officers of any army in Europe, there are very many 
among them to remind us of those Christian heroes who with 
Havelock shed undying lustre upon our Indian army. One or 
two evidences of the character of these men may not be 
uninteresting. 

When General Anderson was about to raise his flag on Fort 
Sumpter, he gathered his men around him and knelt down 
while his chaplain offered up prayer to God for guidance and 
protection. Of General Burnside it is known that " where he 
pitches a tent, there he erects an altar." " It was my fortune," 
says a New England clergyman, "to occupy the same room 
with him in Washington, and every morning and evening we 
used to kneel down together and pray for the blessing of God 
on his solemn work." Commodore Foote, on one occasion 
when a clergyman could not be found, preached to his naen 
from the text, "Let not your heart be troubled;" and conducted 
the devotional services with an earnestness which did not 
surprise his hearers, because they knew it to be in perfect 
accordance with his daily life. General Mitchell was accus- 
tomed to speak to the men of his command about religion. 
On one memorable occasion he addressed them, insisting " that 
the highest duty of a soldier was to be a Christian ; that religion 
heightened every enjoyment, and prepared him to discharge 
better all his duties." General Howard issued an order in 
regard to profane swearing — the besetting sin of the American 
army. " I need not," he said, " remind any thinking man of 
the vulgarity and meanness of the practice, nor speak of it as a 
positive violation of God's law, but will simply appeal to the 
good sense and better feelings of the members of my command, 
and urge them, by all they hold dear, to abstain from insulting 
Him whose protection they need." In all respects General 
Howard is a noble specimen of a Christian soldier. He has 
been in all the severest fighting in Virginia and Pennsylvania. 



NORTHERN OFFICERS. 15 

He has proved his possession of the highest soldierly qualities 
on many a bloody field. And this is what supports him in his 
constant perils : " God has enabled me to have a clear con- 
viction that should he take me away, I would be with him. 
Not because I am good, or holy, or righteous ; but because I 
have a Saviour who is able to save unto the uttermost. There- 
fore I can go into the battle fearing no evil." 

The history of Adjutant Stearns is finely illustrative of the 
impulse under which the better portion of the American people 
have acted. When the war broke out, Mr. Stearns was a 
student in Amherst College, of which his father is president. 
He was a young man of much strength of character, of pure 
morals, and of deep religious convictions ; simple-hearted, 
manly, generous, and full of all good promise. He had very 
clear views of the causes and significance of the national crisis, 
and the tremendous importance of its issues. From the first 
he felt that he had a special call to fight, and possibly to die for 
his country. He thought the country needed educated and 
religious men for officers, who would care for the privates and 
work hard to make them soldiers, and perhaps Christian soldiers. 
His friends sought to dissuade him from his purpose, and they 
were able for a little to delay its execution. But when the 
disastrous tidings of Bull Run were received, his conviction 
became irresistible that it was his duty to enlist His friends 
withdrew their opposition. With no boyish love of adventure, 
but compelled by a solemn, high-toned, patriotic enthusiasm, 
he went off to the war, willing to serve either as private soldier 
or as officer, and calmly prepared to lay down his life for his 
country. He received a commission, and applied himself with 
vigour an^ effect to the work of drilling the untrained men who 
flocked to the national standard. His career was full of hope, 
but it was early closed. He fell, mortally wounded, at the battle 
of Newbern, when he had been scarcely a year in the service. 

The first man who volunteered in the State of Ohio was Mr. 

9 



i6 



NORTHERN OFFICERS. 



Andrews, President of Kenyon College. He had no taste 
whatever for military life. He was a man of peace and quiet- 
ness. He was moved entirely by the consideration of duty to 
his country in the time of her great trial. He said he had 
carefully and solemnly, before God, inquired what was the path 
of duty for him, and this was the result. His career was sadly 
brief He died of disease a few months after he joined the 
army. 

Lieutenant Edgar Newcombe had been trained with a view 
to the ministry in the Grammar School of Boston and the 
neighbouring College of Cambridge. His health failed, and he 
went to travel in Europe. Soon after his return the rebellion 
broke out. He felt constrained to aid in its suppression. The 
service was positively distasteful to him. It was violently 
opposed to all the impulses of his peaceful and loving nature. 
But he never doubted that his duty to God and to his country 
left him no choice. He enlisted as a common soldier. He 
"made conscience of his work," as men who enlist under 
constraint of such motives always do ; and he soon received 
promotion. He distinguished himself as a soldier. " No 
braver officer or man ever stood upon a battle-field," was the 
testimony borne regarding him by a superior officer. He was 
no less faithful and active as a Christian. He frequently 
preached, and held prayer-meetings, and missed no opportunity 
of influencing to good the soldiers around him. At Fredericks- 
burg he was struck by a shot which tore his limbs in pieces. 
He lingered for some days suffering intensely, but tranquil and 
happy. " It never seemed before to me," he said, " so great 
and noble a thing to die." His last message to his parents was, 
that he could not die in a holier cause. 

Instances of self-devotion similar to these could be multiplied 
indefinitely. The records of this war are full of them. America 
has developed an unexpected opulence of heroism in feeling 
and in deed. For this sacrifice of every personal interest in 



THE SANITARY COMMISSION, 17 

obedience to the impulse of patriotism is in the loftiest sense 
heroic. From the annals of these bitter years an ennobling 
influence will reach down through all the succeeding periods of 
American history. 

The national sympathy with an army composed in consider- 
able part of elements such as these, is necessarily deep and 
close beyond all example. No army ever expressed more 
perfectly the national mind. These were not men hired to 
fight in any quarrel which might occur. They had offered 
themselves for this special service. They became soldiers 
because of their deep participation in the national resolve. 
The American people were of one mind in their purpose to put 
down a most wicked rebellion, and to maintain a Government 
which they deemed the best in the world. The army was 
merely that section of themselves upon whom circumstances 
or their own choice had laid the burden of fighting for the 
common cause. In a very uncommon degree they became the 
care of those who remained at home. The same enthusiasm 
which impelled some to fight, impelled others to labour for 
their welfare. Instantaneously there sprang up thickly all over 
the country associations which expressed this passionate desire. 
Every village had its little organization. Women spent their 
days in churches or private houses, preparing lint and bandages. 
In every farm-house and cottage was " a good grandmoth'er 
knitting socks, or a child making a pin-cushion." The village 
society gathered up the gifts which poured freely in, and trans- 
mitted them as best it could, in the confusion, to the regiment 
in whose comfort it felt the warmest interest. 



UNITED STATES' SANITARY COMMISSION 

The United States' Sanitary Commission is the crystal- 
lization into one splendid mass of those innumerable little 
associations whose earnest but imperfectly organized efforts 



l8 THE SANITARY COMMISSION. 

sought the good of the soldier. The women of New York may 
be regarded as the founders of this noble society. At the 
beginning of the war, a great Central Women's Association had 
been formed in New York. Soon many of the village associa- 
tions desired to avail themselves of the better organization of 
this central institution, and were contented to become its 
tributaries. The central association was rapidly becoming a 
great power. With a consciousness of the vast authority for 
good which was intrusted to them, there happily visited the 
New York sisterhood an apprehension of ill-directed effort. 
They wisely resolved to take advice. They united themselves 
for that purpose Avith two medical associations whose object 
was to benefit the military hospitals. Jointly these three bodies 
appointed delegates who proceeded to Washington to urge that 
Government should, by means of a Commission, consider the 
best plans for methodizing the active but undirected benevolence 
of the people towards the army, and investigate the general 
subject of the prevention of sickness and suffering among the 
troops. " It must be well known," represented these delegates 
to the Secretary at War, "that several such Commissions yt-Z/fTcvrf 
the Crimean and Indian Wars. The civilization and humanity 
of the age and of the American people demand that such a 
Commission should /;Ym/d' our second War of Independence — 
more sacred than the first. We wish to prevent the evils that 
England and France could only investigate and deplore. This 
war ought to be waged in a spirit of the highest intelligence and 
tenderness for the health, comfort, and safety of our brave 
troops." These words bear date the i8th May, 1861. The 
war cannot be said to have actually commenced. America had 
no experience of the evils which befall a neglected army. 
Spoken before a single drop of blood was shed, these suggestions 
are evidence of a far-reaching, humane sagacity, to which it is 
difficult indeed to find any parallel in the history of armies. 
In a itw days the Government order for the organization of 



SANITAR V rRECA UTIONS. 1 9 

the Sanitary Commission was issued. The general object of 
the Commission was, " to bring to bear upon the health, com- 
fort, and morale of our troops, the fullest and ripest teachings of 
sanitary science in its application to military life." The Com- 
mission was composed of twenty-two members. Its President 
was the Rev. Dr. Bellows, who fittingly represented the philan- 
thropy of the country. Its chief executive officer was Mr. 
Olmsted, favourably known in Europe by various writings upon 
the condition and resources of the Southern States. The other 
members of the Commission were men of science, experienced 
miHtary officers, medical men, and merchants of proved adminis- 
trative capacity. Instantly they and the " experts" whom they 
called to their aid hastened to the field of observation and 
inquiry among the gathering forces on the Potomac and the 
Mississippi. Almost as soon as there was a camp there were 
sanitary inspectors to show how a camp should be pitched. 
The choice of a site was regulated by scientific principles. 
Localities suggestive of malaria were scrupulously shunned. 
Drainage was strictly enforced. Care was taken to have pure 
water in abundance. The army cooking was well seen to, and 
every possible means used to secure the most wholesome food 
for the troops. The clothing of the men was elaborately dis- 
cussed. Every precaution was used to avert those, camp 
diseases which so cruelly impair the strength of armies. The 
country was willing to supply all the life which was needed to 
put down the rebeUion; but while life was to be ungrudgingly 
given in this cause, it was not to be wasted. It was not 
humanity alone which was the motive professed by the Com- 
mission; it was also the wish to husband the resources of the 
people. Had the mortality of the American army been equal 
to that of most other armies, the consumption of human life 
would have been too horrible, and the enterprise must have been 
abandoned as one surpassing the strength of the people who 
had undertaken it. 



ao SANITARY RESEARCHES. 

The first American armies stood peculiarly in need of such care 
as sanitary guardians could supply. They were not men gathered 
mainly from the open-air occupations, with whom exposure and 
hardship are familiar. They were still more men of in-door 
lives. They were lawyers, doctors, clerks, students, mechanics, 
as well as farmers. They were men accustomed to regularity 
of life and plentiful home-comforts. They knew the care of 
mothers and sisters and wives. They used varied and well- 
cooked food. Many of them were youths unused to toil, and 
little able to endure it. It was plain that if these men were 
subjected to the ordinary fatigues of the field, and the ordinary 
hardships of the camp, they must perish in crowds, from exhaus- 
tion and the diseases generated by their new mode, of life. 
Many of them actually did so at the outset. That this waste 
of life, never overwhelming, was soon controlled, and ultimately 
almost stopped, was owing to the wise and timely precautions 
of the American people. 

Scientific research into all questions connected with the 
health of armies occupied the Commission from its establish- 
ment, and is still one of the great departments of its work. 
There has scarcely ever been presented so rich a field for inves- 
tigations of this description. Many armies were at work in 
regions widely apart, and widely dissimilar in all conditions of 
climate and local circumstance. The very diseases which pre- 
vailed were different. Diseases unknown among European 
soldiers made their appearance in some of the American armies. 
The Sanitary Commission established a department for the col- 
lection of vital statistics. An enormous accumulation of these 
has already been formed. Their results have not yet been pub- 
lished, and will not be till the war is ended, and the collection 
thus completed. Meanwhile we know that a work is being 
carried regularly forward which will prove of incalculable benefit, 
not to American armies only, but to all armies. Medical 
science is being enriched by this careful gathering up of facts. 



SANITARY INSPECTORS. 21 

These results of American experience will prove an inexhaust- 
ible treasure to scientific discoverers in all lands. 

The Sanitary Inspector has been an invariable attendant 
upon all American camps. He is qualified for his office by 
medical experience and recognised capacity. His business is 
to detect everything injurious to the health of the troops, and 
bring it under the notice of the regimental surgeon or com- 
manding officer. He is instructed to do so respectfully, care- 
fully observing all militaiy etiquette. Should any officer refuse 
to give effect to his remonstrance, he is to apprise the Com- 
mission of such refusal. Means will be found to remove all 
obstructions which unreasonable men place in the way. The 
health of the soldiers who are saving the national life is the 
one thing to be regarded. And, in supplement of the inspector's 
work, the Commission undertake to supply the surgeons with 
such professional reading as is needful for them. Government 
supplies standard medical works ; but the Commission has 
published a great many short treatises on army diseases, which 
have proved eminently helpful to the surgeons. 

The wise forethought of the Commission was shown very 
notably in their concern about the provision which was to be 
made for the disabled soldiers. So early as the autumn 
of 1862 this subject engaged attention. " If the war con- 
tinue a year longer," said the Commission, " not less than a 
hundred thousand men of impaired vigour, maimed or broken 
in body or spirit, will be thrown on the country. Add to this 
another hundred thousand men demoralized for civil life by 
military habits, and it is easy to see what a trial to the order, 
industry, and security of society, there is in store for us." It 
was needful to begin the consideration of this great question in 
good time ; and the Commission began at once. They sent 
a competent person to Europe, to observe the working of the 
various military invalid systems. The information so collected 
was published. It was still felt that additional light was required. 



2 2 SANITAR V SUPPLIES. 

It was resolved to establish experimental Sanitaria for certain 
classes of disabled soldiers. Armed with the results of these 
experiments, and of all European experience, the Commission 
will be prepared, when the necessity arises, to propose an 
invalid system suited to the circumstances of the country, and 
worthy of the greatness of the interests involved. 

By sanitary investigations, and by the diffusion of sanitary 
knowledge throughout the army, the Commission hoped to 
save life, and thus uphold the national cause. Important as 
this part of the work has proved, it is, however, only a small 
part. No sooner was the Commission organized than it began 
to attract to itself those multitudinous Soldiers' Aid Societies 
and Village Sewing Circles by which all Americans who did not 
fight were eager to express their love for those who did. At 
first it had been attempted to send the gifts from each State to 
the regiments of that State; but this became intolerably trouble- 
some ; — and, besides, it was now the disposition of the Northern 
people to forget the State, and remember only the Nation ; for 
had not the exalting of the State to the disparagement of the 
Nation been their undoing] One by one the smaller societies 
wisely resolved to merge themselves in the great national insti- 
tution. The Sanitary Commission has nobly reaUzed the dream 
of its founders, in " organizing the benevolence of the country 
towards the army." During the first two years of its existence 
it received, for the soldiers, gifts which were valued at nearly 
eight millions of dollars. It has been truly said that the Com- 
mission has " modified history," by its wise use of these enor- 
mous supplies. 

Wherever there is an American army, there inevitably is a 
depot of the Sanitary Commission. At some convenient centre 
is the stationary depot. Moving with the army in all its move- 
ments is the '' flying depot" — a line of two-horse waggons laden 
with stores. Everything which soldiers in health or in sickness 
can re<|iurc is there. Every variety of under-clothing, bedding. 



SANITARY SUPPLIES. 23 

towels and handkerchiefs, vegetables, condensed milk, pickles, 
crutches, ice, dressing-gowns, fans to soothe the wounded in the 
burning heat of summer, bandages and pads, sponges, eau-de- 
Cologne, mosquito-netting, and a hundred things besides, issue 
in profuse supply from those inexhaustible waggons the moment 
they are required. The Commission does not relieve Govern- 
ment from the performance of any part of its duty to the soldiers. 
Its function is purely supplemental. But it supphes comforts 
which Government- is never expected to provide, which yet the 
American people wish that their soldiers should enjoy. And, 
besides, Government dispenses according to rules, while the 
soldier " wants according to his circumstances." On many 
occasions these rules and these wants harmonize ill. Especially 
is this the case after such an irregular transaction as a battle, 
with its abnormal crowds of wounded and suffering men. On 
all such occasions the Commission steps in and bridges the 
chasm of want. The surgeon, in despair because some official 
blunder has bereft him of hospital suppUes, turns, and never in 
vain, to the waggons of the Sanitary Commission. The soldier 
who has lost his blanket or great-coat, and who might become 
a non-effective in consequence of cold before official rules would 
permit him to have another, is promptly supplied at those 
magical waggons. At the close of a hard fight or a toilsome 
march the soldiers may discover that the official provision for 
their wants is yet at some distance; but the waggons and huge 
wheeled caldrons of the Sanitary Commission are always within 
reach. 

The Commission taught, as men having authority, that camps 
must be drained, that the soldiers must be suitably clothed and 
lodged, that their food must be varied and well cooked ; but 
they were not content with teaching. It was not enough for 
them to say, " Be ye warmed and fed." They themselves sup- 
plied the articles whose use they recommended. No official 
regulations fettered their free beneficence. They waited for no 



24 THE WAR WITH SCURVY, 

order. They were there to relieve wants ; and the discovery of 
a want was their authority to relieve it. Their ample stores 
dispensed in profusion everything fitted to promote the comfort 
and uphold the efficiency of the soldiers. 

The Sanitary Commission has waged an arduous and at 
length a successful war with Scurvy. The coming of that 
dreaded enemy was early foreseen, and great efforts made to 
avert it. Adequate supplies of fresh vegetables could not, how- 
ever, be obtained. The Commission raised loudly the cry, 
"Potatoes and onions for the whole army!" "Vegetables, 
humanity, and patriotism," was their motto. They urged upon 
the people that every barrel of potatoes was as good to the army 
as a soldier, for it saved the life of one. They besought every 
man who had a patch of ground, to put in some vegetables for 
the army. It was pointed out to young ladies, who were prone 
to send handsomely wrought slippers and book-marks to their 
lovers in the army, that precious as these gifts were, fresh vege- 
tables were greatly preferred. Enormous vegetable donations 
poured in upon the Commission, in prompt response to its 
appeals. In supplement of these, the Commission has fre- 
quently swept the Western markets of every vegetable article 
offered for sale. Finally, the Commission established vast 
gardens of its own here and there over the Union. For a long 
time the American army has had ample supply of vegetables, 
and " the demon of scurvy" has been conclusively hunted from 
the camp. 

" Hospitals," said a distinguished army surgeon of the last 
generation, " are among the chief causes of mortality in armies." 
As they have been regulated in most armies, they form a sure 
provision for the spread of all infectious diseases. The soldier 
who goes in to get cured of some slight wound or illness, comes 
out to sicken and die of smallpox or fever. The mortality in 
an ill-regulated military hospital is horrible. At one period 
during the Crimean War nearly one-half of the sick died in the 



xMILITAR Y HOSPITALS. 2 5 

hospital. A little later, when sanitary precautions were used, 
the mortality sunk at once to two or three per cent. Here was 
a field for American sanitary reformers. The hospital popu- 
lation was enormous. The medical department had frequently 
under its care one hundred thousand men. In and around 
Washington there were at one period thirty thousand sick and 
wounded men in hospital. Before the opening of the present 
campaign, it was believed that a million of men had passed 
through the hospitals. The success or failure of the national 
cause turned upon the good or bad management of the medical 
department. If the hospitals were to be fever dens, where half 
the sick men died, and the other half crawled forth to infect 
the camp, the suppression of the rebellion was obviously impos- 
sible. During the earher months of the war the condition of 
the hospitals furnished occasion of the gravest solicitude. We 
have no statistics to illustrate their mismanagement ; but the 
dark intimation that nothing so bad existed even in the Crimea 
is enough. 

The Sanitary Commission gave early and earnest heed to 
this vitally important subject. Medical men of reputation 
were invited to take part in the systematic inspection of hos- 
pitals. The buildings used were then old hotels, churches, 
school-rooms, — anything that could be got. The inspectors 
recommended the abandonment of these unsuitable structures, 
and the erection of buildings ada.pted to hospital purposes. 
Government hearkened to their counsel. In the autumn of 
1862 a large number of extensive pavilion hospitals were erected. 
Immense energy was put forth. In a surprisingly short time 
buildings were completed which contained in the aggregate 
seventy thousand beds. There is now ample and excellent 
hospital accommodation for all the armies of the Union. 

Every possible measure has been adopted to secure the com- 
fort of the sick. Their first great want was hospital clothing. 
The poor fellows came in with no dress but that in which they 



26 RAIL WA Y AMB U LANCES. 

had marched and fought and slept for weeks. Government had 
nothing more suitable to offer them. But the women of America 
had thought of all that, and the ubiquitous Sanitary Commission 
was there to clothe the sick man in the dress befitting an invalid. 
Infinite care was bestowed upon his diet. Ample supplies of 
vegetables were provided ; and lest their freshness should be 
tarnished by the distance they had to travel, they were conveyed 
in "refrigerating cars," lined with zinc and with ice. Every 
delicacy to tempt the languid appetite was at hand. The list 
of articles regularly supplied Jto the hospitals includes every- 
thing which an invalid civilian of the middle class would be at 
all likely to use. 

The wounded have often to be conveyed great distances to 
hospital. At first the only thing that could be done was to lay 
them down, side by side, on the floor of cattle-trucks or 
freight-cars. The agony inflicted was unendurable, and the 
injury sustained was often fatal. The wounded came in from 
the battle of Fair Oaks packed in this way. It was Virginia 
mid-summer — still, and intensely hot. When the train reached 
its destination, many of the men were dead. The living and 
the dead lay mingled together. An agent of the Sanitary 
Commission witnessed the horrid scene. Deeply moved, he 
applied his mind to the devising of a Railway Ambulance. The 
wounded American is now conveyed to hospital in a carriage 
appropriate to his circumstances. The springs are so contrived 
as to give almost perfect smoothness. There is a device which 
eflectually prevents jerking when the train stops or is put in 
motion. The carriages are grooved to run upon different 
gauges, and save the pain of needless transfers. The beds are 
suspended by strong india-rubber bands, and receive a gentle 
motion which ordinarily lulls the patient to sleep. There are 
reclining seats for those who are able to sit up, a sofa for the 
doctor, a kitchen, and an abundant supply of such stores as 
the wounded may require. Wlien the journey is accomplished 



RELIEF STA TIONS. 2 7 

the beds may be at once unslung, and the patient carried to 
his place in the hospital without inconvenience. Mechanically 
considered, all this reflects credit upon the Americans. As an 
exhibition of tenderness towards human suffering, of grateful, 
affectionate concern for those who have been disabled in the 
national service, it is beautiful and admirable in the highest 
degree. 

In many ways besides these does the Sanitary Commission 
make itself felt as a blessing to the soldier. There is a debate- 
able ground between the hospital and active service, the occu- 
pants of which urgently require help. Men are discharged as 
unfit for service; or they are allowed to go home on sick leave; 
or they are sick, but yet not sick enough to have a claim on 
the hospital. For men of these and similar classes the Com- 
mission keeps open door. At all the great military centres. 
Relief Stations have been estabHshed. The men are received 
there, and the stations become " the gateway towards home " 
for them. If they" are not well enough to go home, they are 
nursed. If they are able to travel, they are helped upon their 
journey. When their state of health requires, an agent is sent 
to accompany them to their homes. Special care is taken to 
guard the discharged soldier from falling into the hands of 
improper companions.- His arrears of pay are collected for 
him. Formerly it happened that sick men, waiting in the dense 
crowd and blazing sunshine at the paymaster's door, actually 
died of exhaustion. Now the Commission undertakes the 
arrangement of their pecuniary relations with the Government. 
Sometimes a good soldier is disgraced unjustly. He has been 
separated from his regiment, for example, and circumstances 
favour the suspicion that he intended desertion. He does not 
know how to get redress. But he brings the story of his wrongs 
to the Sanitary Commission, by whom it is examined. If the 
case is found to be as represented, the needful exculpatory 
evidence is laid before the military authorities. In this way 



28 



HOSPITAL DIRECrORY-DEATH RECORDS. 



many good and faithful soldiers have been saved from unde- 
served shame. Detectives are regularly employed to discover 
and bring to justice the sharpers and gamblers who hang about 
the precincts of a camp, and prey upon the soldiers. When a 
soldier falls sick and is sent to hospital, he disappears suddenly 
from the knowledge of his relations at home. He cannot write 
to them ; he cannot be found by the postman who brings their 
letters to him. To anxious relatives this* is naturally sugges- 
rive of the very worst. But they can find no way either to 
confirm or dispel their fears. They must remain long in 
miserable uncertainty ; or, rather, they must liave done so at 
one time-but that time is past. The Sanitary Commission 
has established an Hospital Directory. The name of every 
soldier who enters the hospital is duly inscribed on their 
records. His whole hospital history is preserved, for the satis- 
faction of his friends. They have only to write to the Com- 
mission. They learn, in course of post, when the man became 
ill, what ailed him, whether he has died or recovered ; and if 
the latter, where he is now. Often it is sad news the Com- 
mission has to give. An old man comes in from a distant 
State to visit his boy in the hospital, and while the clerk looks 
out the name the stranger talks pleasantly about his son, and 
about the little presents which the mother and sisters in the 
far-off home have sent to cheer his sickness. Alas ! the boy 
died that very morning. But oftener the news is good. Many 
thousands of fathers and mothers have had their fears turned 
into rejoicing by the letter which assured them that their lost 
son was safe in hospital, and doing well. 

Yet one step further has the care of the Sanitary Commission 
followed the American soldier. The soldier who lives is not 
alone the object of regard. He who has died for his country 
must not be forgotten. A scheme of Death Records was pre- 
pared by the Commission, and adopted by the Government. 
A register is kept of the dead soldiers name, his home-relations. 



SANITARY COMMISSION AND THE NEGROES. 29 

his wounds or sickness, his dying requests, his place of burial. A 
neatlyinscribed memorial tablet marks the place of his rest. Long 
lines of these tablets now show where a battle has been fought 
or an hospital cemetery established, and bear touching witness 
to the evils which have been wrought by this great rebellion. 

The treatment of the Negroes by the Sanitary Commission is 
a point to which attention is naturally turned. We all know 
how guilty the North has been in respect of their coloured 
brothers. We know how the interests of the enslaved race 
were sacrificed, in the vain hope of pleasing the insensate and 
insatiate South. We know, too, how intolerant Northern 
people Avere of the presence of the negro — how they chased 
him from their hotels, from their shops, from their public con- 
veyances. It is not necessary we should forget these things. 
But if the feeling under which they were committed has under- 
gone a marvellous change ; if in the sentiment of the North 
the negro is rapidly assuming his rightful place, neither should 
we keep our minds shut to this so beneficial revolution. The 
history of Northern opinion did not close with the passing of 
the Fugitive Slave Bill. The America of to-day looks upon 
that measure with nearly as much wonder and abhorrence as 
Britain does. One early result of the war was a marked 
reaction from the prevalent dislike of the negro. It was said 
the negro could not fight. He has disproved that calumny on 
many a bloody field. It was said he would never work unless 
under compulsion. He has shown himself enamoured of 
voluntary labour, and of the wages which are its reward. On 
the Carolina and Florida coasts; in the department of the 
Gulf — wherever cotton lands have been repossessed by the 
Union, they are -worked by free negro farmers and labourers, 
far more effectively than they ever were by the debased 
"chivalry" of the South. The negro has had an opportunity 
of proving what he is fit for, and the repentant North is learn- 
ing to appreciate him at his true value. 



30 FEDERAL PRISONERS IN THE SOUTH. 

'J'he reports of the Sanitary Commission furnish the most 
expressive evidence of the greatness of this change. It is 
scarcely ever told us whether the soldiers ministered to by the 
Commission are black or white. Distinction of colour is 
wholly unregarded. Negro soldiers and white soldiers, as they 
fight in the same cause, so, when wounded, they occupy the 
same hospital, and enjoy the same tender care. Indeed, there 
is sometimes a good-humoured complaint by the white soldiers 
that the blacks are better cared for in hospital than they are. 
Many of the ladies who • serve in the hospitals are eager 
Abolitionists, and upon their kindness a negro, wounded in the 
service of the country which has used him so harshly, has 
claims of surpassing strength. For the first time in his history 
the black man is permitted to meet the white man on equal 
terms. The old and lamentable repugnance to the negro race 
cannot be discovered in the Federal army. 

TREATMENT OF PRISONERS— NORTH AND SOUTH. 

The Federal soldiers who have fallen into the enemy's hands, 
and become the occupants of his terrible prisons, have received 
many welcome evidences that their friends in the North did 
not forget them. The Northern captive ordinarily reaches his 
prison in a sadly dilapidated condition. Some ill-clad rebel 
has coveted and taken his coat. His shoes and stockings have 
proved an irresistible temptation to another hero who had been 
campaigning almost barefooted. His money is invariably taken 
from him by the prison officials. He is helpless and forlorn, 
with no visible reliance excepting upon those whose tender 
mercies have proved cruel indeed. Knowing the sad condition 
of their captive soldiers, both the Sanitary and Christian Com- 
missions obtained from the Rebel Government permission to 
come to their aid. Profuse supplies have been sent south, of 
clothing, bedding, food and comforts for the sick. Many of 



CRUELTY OF THE SOUTHERN GOVERNMENT. 31 

these articles were honourably delivered to those for whom they 
were intended. Many more of them, it is certainly known, 
were dishonourably intercepted. 

The South is an admirable expositor of the amenities of 
war. Her principles are so excellent that many people take 
her practice for granted. General Butler once issued an order 
which was meant to suppress the insults offered to his army 
by Southern ladies, and whicli, it is known, did so without the 
smallest inconvenience to any one. The chivalrous and tender- 
hearted South stood aghast at the cruelty. General Sherman, 
under pressure of military necessity, ordered the population of 
a Southern town to leave their dwellings and go elsewhere. 
The South made a solemn appeal to History, to brand as it 
deserved the unparalleled atrocity. All the while how has 
the South herself acted % The question brings us face to face 
with transactions which have no counterpart in the history of 
Christian States. Among the multitude of horrifying topics 
which the records of war present, there is nothing worse — 
happily there is nothing so bad — as the treatment which the 
South has bestowed upon her prisoners. It was possible only 
among a people reduced to a half-savage condition by the 
brutalizing influence of slavery. And it is in perfect haraiony 
with the character of a Government whose foundations are 
avowedly laid upon the doctrine that slavery is the natural 
condition of the negro. 

If the care taken of the Federal soldier illustrates the spirit 
in which the North is fighting, the treatment of prisoners 
illustrates as faithfully the spirit of the South. It would be a 
satisfaction even to doubt the evidence on which such horrors 
are presented to us. Unhappily, that is impossible. The 
comfort of doubt can be enjoyed only by those facile students 
of history who, without inquiry, reject every allegation detri- 
mental to the South. 

At Andersonville, in Georgia, there is a large prison for 



32 THE STOCKADE PRISON AT ANDERSONVILLE. 

Federal soldiers. It is not a building, but a stockade. An 
area of twenty-five acres is surrounded by a wall about twenty 
feet high, formed of the upright trunks of trees. Near the top 
are small platforms, where the guards are stationed. Within 
this stockade about thirty thousand prisoners were confined. 
In the centre of the enclosure is a swamp, into which a small 
stream flows, laden with the impurities of a rebel camp pitched 
upon its banks. The prisoners have room to move about, but 
scarcely without jostling. There was no drainage, and the only 
water which was available for drinking or cooking was take^ 
from the filthy little stream. The men filtered it as best they 
could, through the remains of their shirts and blouses. There 
was no shelter, by night or by day, from the sun or rain. The 
men slept upon the ground. They had been plundered of 
their blankets, and in some cases of their shirts and drawers. 
Few of them had shoes. Most of them were without clothing 
which sufficed for the decent covering of the person ; and many 
were almost literally naked. The food supplied was barely 
sufficient to sustain life, and utterly inadequate to preserve 
health. The prisoners endured continually the agony of 
hunger. They ate gladly the flesh of rats ; and once a dog, 
which had strayed into the enclosure, was eagerly devoured. 
Diseases bred of starvation made fearful havoc among them. 
For a long time the deaths averaged one hundred and thirty 
daily. The men sunk into despondency, and many into idiocy. 
The loathsome cruelty of the Slave-owning Confederacy had laid 
upon them a burden of misery too great for humanity to endure. 
Many sought refuge in suicide — a refuge easily found. Inside 
the wall of the stockade, and about twenty feet distant from it, 
there ran a slight railing. Within that railing was the vast 
crowd of prisoners. Between it and the wall there lay perhaps 
one or two dead bodies, but no living man walked there. 
What is that mysterious fence, and wherefore the reluctance to 
enter the space which it marks off? It is the well-known 



THE STOCKADE PRISON OF BELLE ISLE. 33 

" dead-line " — the fiendish contribution of the South to the 
economy of mihtary prisons. The man who puts hand or foot 
beyond that Hne, dies on the instant by the bullet of the guard. 
One poor fellow — his name was Roberts — who had just been 
captured from Sherman's army, was once trying to wash his 
face in the stream, near the "dead-hne" railing. His foot 
slipped on the clayey bottom, and he fell with his head outside 
the fatal border. His comrades shouted their eager warning. 
But it came too late. The bullet of the guard sped forth, and 
poor Roberts rose no more. Two such deaths occurred daily 
on the average. For the most, the slain men were those 
who, in despair or madness, had crossed the line to find relief 
in death from intolerable suifering. For many months these 
unutterable barbarities were perpetrated. At length came the 
pestilence — the sure result of filth, starvation, and exposure. 
Eleven thousand dead men were thrown, uncoffined, into 
trenches dug outside the stockade. The prison was broken up, 
and the prisoners confined elsewhere. 

Andersonville is away in a remote part of the Confederacy, 
and some may be disposed to hope that the Government were 
ignorant of its horrors. But horrors such as these, and even 
worse, have been enacted for years under the walls of Richmond 
— literally within the view of the members of the Confederate 
Government. Belle Isle is a small island in the James River, 
close beside the rebel capital. Here is an enclosure surrounded 
by earthwork and ditch, and occupied by ten or twelve thousand 
prisoners. Its area gives to each man a space of three feet by 
nine. There are a few ragged tents, but the great mass of 
prisoners have no shelter whatever. In a country of forests 
there was no want of timber, and the prisoners could easily have 
sheltered themselves had they been allowed. Last winter wa? 
one of the hardest ever experienced in the South. The ther- 
mometer was down to zero at Richmond. Snow lay deep on 
the ground. As Jefferson Davis moved about the streets of his 



34 THE LIBBY PRISON. 

capital he could see the place where ten thousand brave men 
were subjected by his orders to all the agonies which cold and 
hunger can inflict. It is terrible to read of the sufferings of 
these men. The food supplied was utterly insufficient in 
quantity, and absolutely vile in quality. They crowded together 
at night, taking turns as to who should have the outside. In 
the morning some members of these little circles were always 
found frozen to death. Some dug holes in the sand, and crept 
into them to sleep. All through the night crowds of them were 
heard running up and down, to keep themselves from perishing 
of cold. A few months ago there was an exchange of prisoners, 
and the survivors of the winter on Belle Isle were brought to 
the North. The Sanitary Commission sent a special agent to 
see to their comfort. That gentleman states that he has wit- 
nessed much suffering on battle-field and in hospital, but any- 
thing so sad and deplorable as the condition of these exchanged 
prisoners he could not have imagined. Most of them were 
living skeletons. Many were almost naked. All were frightfully 
filthy and covered with vermin. Many had lost their reason. 
Many came on board with their feet partially amputated by 
frost. In one case a frozen foot fell off when the man was lifted. 
Without exception they were ravenous for food. Hundreds 
were sick of diseases engendered by want, and a good many 
died on the way home. The post-mortem examination of their 
bodies left no room to doubt that death had been caused by 
exposure and want of food. 

The Federal officers are confined in the Libby Prison in 
Richmond. The Inspector of that prison was formerly a negro 
whipper; — a craftsman largely employed and of considerable 
importance in the South. The rations supplied to the officers 
were very insufficient, and those who did not receive supplies 
from friends in the North suffered much from hunger. The 
prison was crowded and unutterably filthy. An imaginary line 
three feet from the window was the "dead line" of that prison. 



TREATMENT OF PRISONERS BY THE NOR'TH. 35 

The sentry fired at random at any man who seemed to come 
too near the window. Scarcely a day passed without murder 
being thus committed. 

In this way do the chiefs of the new Slave-owning Republic 
treat the unfortunate men who fall into their power. It is 
horrifying, but it is not surprising. All the Southern chivalry 
owned large numbers of human beings. With their knowledge 
and full sanction, and for their profit, these slaves — women as 
well as men — were constantly flogged and otherwise brutally 
oppressed at the pleasure of a brutal overseer. Was it reason- 
able to expect that men who have lived all their days upon the 
gains of such a system as that, should be gentle, humane, con- 
siderate of others % These men have palmed themselves off 
upon befooled England as high-spirited Christian gentlemen. 
It was impossible they should be so. Do men gather figs of 
thistles? Are Christian gentlemen produced under a social 
system which sanctions atrocious cruelty for the sake of a little 
ignominious gain % The supposition is foolish. Whatever cheap 
external graces the Southern chivalry may possess, they are 
savages in their heart. 

The most striking contrast which it is possible to present to 
the treatment of Federal prisoners in the South, is the treatment 
of Confederate prisoners in the North. This war is a conflict 
between a higher and a lower form of civilization- — unequally 
yoked together. Whoso wishes to know, surely, which is the 
nobler of the two, let him, with a just scorn of all unsupported 
assertion, search honestly into the treatment of the prisoners. 
The evidence is easily accessible ; it is superfluously ample ; it 
is convincing in a degree which renders rational doubt a mere 
impossibihty. 

Fort Delaware is a prison which has been a good deal 
maligned. It was suddenly peopled, after the battle of Get- 
tysburg, with eleven thousand prisoners. There were no pre- 
parations made for the reception of such a mass of men. The 



3 6 FOR T DELA WA RE. 

hospital accommodation, in particular, was insufficient. Orders 
were instantly given for a new hospital, and men worked night 
and day till it was finished. At first the sickness and mortality 
were painfiiUy heavy. Many of the prisoners were in a bad 
r,tate of health from previous hardships. The South is not yet 
sufiiciently civilized to practise vaccination to any considerable 
extent, and small-pox made terrible havoc among the prisoners. 
From the operation of these causes the sanitary condition of 
Fort Delaware was for some time very unsatisfactory. Thus far 
there was some resemblance between Northern and Southern 
prisons. But here it ceases. Every eff'ort was made to correct 
the evils which were wasting the lives of the prisoners. The 
simple, infallible test of the efficacy of these efibrts is the death- 
rate which prevails. This has steadily declined, until in April, 
May, and June last, it stood at ten and a half per cent, annually, 
and was still diminishing. During these same months men were 
dying in the stockade of Andersonville at a rate which would 
swallow up the whole in about nine months ! At Belle Isle 
the mortality was one hundred and fourteen per cent, per 
annum. 

The treatment of the prisoners at Fort Delaware leaves no 
room for surprise at the low rate of mortality. When they 
entered the prison they were stripped and washed. Their 
clothes, which were generally, like their persons, in a very filthy 
condition, were destroyed, and new clothes of the same de- 
scription as those supplied to the Federal soldiers were served 
out to them. The clothing supplied was ample. Every man 
had at least two blankets, and those who were delicate had 
more. The rations were, up to June last, the same as those 
given to the Federal soldiers. At that time they were reduced, 
to make them only equal to the rations which the prisoners had 
enjoyed while in the Confederate ranks. Even that is quite 
sufficient to preserve health. An abundant supply of pure water 
was provided. The prisoners were lodged in well built and 



FUNDS OF THE SANITARY COMMISSION. 37 

well ventilated barracks. They had abundant opportunity for 
exercise and bathing. The Government regulations, intended 
to protect them against improper treatment, were very minute 
and most imperative. It is, of course, certain that hardsliips 
have been endured in Northern prisons. But it really does not 
admit of doubt that these hardships have been accidental ; that 
they were not designed by the Northern Government; and were 
remedied as soon as they were ascertained. Had the con- 
tributors to the Liverpool Bazaar acquired even a slight know- 
ledge of the circumstances, it would have saved them from tlie 
commission of a great folly. 

The delegates of the Christian Commission have laboured 
indefatigably at Fort Delaware — distributing medicines, stimu- 
lants, under-clothing, tracts, books and stationery — preaching to 
the prisoners and conversing with them. The reading matter 
given out was received gratefully, and the addresses listened to 
in general with marked interest. 

Fort Delaware is a perfectly fair representative of all the 
Northern prisons. In some the mortality was less. At John- 
son's Island in Ohio, during a period of twenty-one months, the 
mortality was from three to four per cent, per annum. 

The exchequer of the Sanitary Commission is fed by the 
spontaneous offerings of the people. These have been upon a 
gigantic scale. California sent one hundred thousand dollars in 
gold as her first contribution. And last year at her elections 
she placed money-boxes beside her electoral urns, and an almost 
equal sum was again obtained. From first to last California has 
given six hundred thousand dollars. The Insurance Companies, 
the New York Banks, the Railway Companies have given princely 
donations. All the while there are thousands of branch Com- 
missions collecting money as well as goods. But the fashion ot 
the hour is to have great fairs for the funds of the Commission. 
The latest of these, and of course the greatest, were held in New 



38 THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 

York and Philadelphia. They each yielded above a million of 
dollars. The earliest was held at Chicago. It was proposed by 
the Governors of the four North-Western States. The amount 
hoped for was twenty-five thousand dollars. The amount 
realized was ninety thousand dollars. It was the strangest of 
all the bazaars which the world has ever seen. There was an 
abundance of sewed and knitted matters, and all the usual 
female contributions. But it did not rest with these. Hundreds 
of waggons came in with farm produce — great loads of hay, tons 
of butter and cheese. Cows were offered, and horses and mules. 
The poor man sent the poultry which had fed by his door : it 
was all he had to give. Reaping-machines came in, threshing- 
machines, pumps, ploughs, stoves, mill-stones, hundreds of ke^s 
of nails, huge plates of wrought iron, hides, boots, native wine, 
steam-engines, coal oil by the thousand gallons. The loaded 
waggons came in long procession, toiling on from far off country 
places. And as these prosaic-looking farmers and mechanics 
plodded slowly past with their ungainly offerings, what was it 
that brought tears into hundreds of eyes little used to weep ? 
To us the Union is but a name. To these men it is dearer 
than Hfe itself The deep pride and joy of their hearts to see 
that others loved and honoured the Union even as they did, 
could find expression only in tears. 

UNITED STATES' CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 

Exceeding great and precious have been the services of the 
Sanitary Commission — soothing much suffering, saving many 
lives, powerfully contributing to the final success of the war. 
But into the ideal of a perfect provision for the wants of this 
army there enters something more, something higher than we 
have yet met with. The Medical Science of America has proved 
its enlightenment by the measures which it recommended for 
the good of the army. The patriotism of America has proved 



THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 39 

its living vigour by giving effect to these recommendations. 
The Christianity of America has now to show its zeal and 
sanctified wisdom by its provision for the spiritual wants of the 
soldiers ; by its tender ministry to the necessities both of body 
and soul in the hour of nature's extremity. If Christian men 
and women are found willing to leave their own home-enjo}- 
ments and take up their abode among the soldiers — ministering 
to their comfort when they are wounded or sick or weary, 
supplying them with suitable reading, speaking to them of their 
home and friends, winning their confidence and love, and seek- 
ing to lead their minds to that great eternity on whose solemn 
verge they are standing — then, indeed, the country will have 
done its duty to the army. 

The United States' Christian Commission was founded at 
New York on the i6th of November 1861. The war had then 
raged for several months. The bloody rout of Bull Run had 
taken place. It was seen that the struggle was to be a pro- 
tracted one. It was felt that after the utmost efforts of Govern- 
ment, the soldiers must be without many things which they 
ought to have, and which the country was eager to supply. 
Already wounded men had lain for days upon the field. Already 
the hospitals were full. The provision made by Government 
for the sick was wholly unsatisfactory. In Virginia there was 
established a huge camp for men recovering from wounds or 
sickness. It was called Camp Convalescent ; but the soldiers, 
with a just appreciation of its character, styled it Camp Misery. 
No chaplain had ever been appointed. The sick received only 
the ordinary rations supplied to men in health, and they were 
often unable to use them. They were inadequately clothed. 
There were almost no attendants. In cold and hunger, amid 
filth and vermin, in pain and despair, the sick man wore out 
his diseased life with no one to care either for his body or his 
soul. Throughout the army the destitution of suitable reading 
matter was extreme. The materials necessary for writing to 



40 GO VERXMENT SA NC T/OX. 

friends at home were awanting. Even arrangements by which 
the letters of friends could reach the soldiers did not exist. 
Government had sought to find a chaplain for each regiment ; 
but not more than one-fourth of that number could be obtained. 
Of those who presented themselves and were accepted, many- 
were inefficient, some were profligate. After a while most of 
them resigned and went home. The moral condition of the 
army was fitted to cause not anxiety merely, but alarm. 

Under these urgent circumstances, and in obedience to the 
universal wish, a convention was held of delegates from Young 
Men's Christian Associations, and a Commission was appointed, 
whose function it was to promote, in all competent ways, the 
welfare of the soldiers and sailors engaged in the suppression of 
the rebellion. It was composed originally of twelve members, 
since enlarged to fifty — a change rendered necessary by the 
rapid extension of the operations of the Commission. Its 
chairman is George H. Stuart, Esq., of Philadelphia — a noble 
specimen of a Christian merchant. His unwearied labours 
and untiring energy as President of the Christian Commission 
have made his name familiar as a household word throughout 
the United States. 

The sanction of Government was needful to the effective 
working out of the new enterprise. This was applied for at the 
outset, and granted with cordiality. Mr. Lincoln gave prompt 
assurance of his approval. " Your Christian and benevolent 
undertaking," he said, " for the benefit of the soldiers, is too 
obviously proper and praise-worthy to admit of any difference 
of opinion." The Secretary at War informed the Commission 
that " this department is deeply interested in the spiritual good 
of the soldiers, as well as in their intellectual improvement and 
social and physical comfort, and will cheerfully give its aid to 
the benevolent and patriotic of the land, who desire to improve 
the condition of the troops." The Secretary of the Navy stated 
that " the department will be gratified with any legitimate 



PUBLIC SUPPORT. 41 

means to promote the welfare (present and future) of all who 
are in the service." After a little, the Government assigned to 
one of the departments — the Bureau of Equipment and Re- 
cruiting — the duty of attending to the demands of the Com- 
mission. The chief of that bureau at that time was Admiral 
Foote, a good Christian man, with whom it was a labour of 
love to further such objects as the Commission had in view. 
Henceforth the Commission wanted for no facihty which it was 
in the power of Government to supply. 

Thus sanctioned, the Commission announced itself to the 
people as an agency intended to benefit the soldiers. No 
further appeal was needed to secure public support. The rail- 
way companies granted free conveyance over their lines for all 
tlie agents and for all the stores of the Commission. The 
telegraph transmitted its messages free. Many of the principal 
hotels opened their doors to its agents without charge. The 
Commission occupied rent-free premises, and its affairs were 
administered by clerks, most of whom served gratuitously. All 
tract and publication societies have been lavish in their contri- 
butions of reading matter. The American Bible Society sup- 
plied freely the enormous demand which sprang up in the army 
for copies of the Scriptures. 

The support given by the general public was prompt, liberal, 
enthusiastic. When money was required, it had merely to be 
asked for. At one period, when the care of the wounded at 
Gettysburg taxed the resources of the Commission, the chair- 
man telegraphed his requisitions to the chief towns. He re- 
ceived at once larger sums than he had asked for. A branch 
Commission was speedily established in every town. Every one 
contributed something. The women prepared all manner of 
under-clothing, lint, and bandages. The little girls made 
" housewives," which they stocked with needles, thread, and 
buttons, and accompanied with loving notes to the unknown 
soldiers who were to receive them. All traders offered dona- 



42 HEAD-QUARTERS OF CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. 

tions of their several wares. The druggists gave medicines. 
The cutlers gave knives and forks. The stationers gave paper 
and envelopes, that the soldier might rehearse his battles to the 
old folks at home. Clergymen's wives gave currant-Avine. 
California sent a. great silver brick valued at three thousand 
dollars. With a deep and grateful feeling that the soldiers were 
fighting their battles, the American people poured eagerly their 
offerings into every channel by which they knew that the soldiers 
could be reached. 

But a yet costlier evidence of interest in this cause had to be 
given. From many, personal service in the camp or in the 
field was required. It was indispensable that Christian men 
and women, accepting the inevitable hardships and perils of 
camp life, should make their home among the soldiers — labour- 
ing continually for their comfort and spiritual good. The 
Commission called for agents, and the summons was promptly 
obeyed. Clergymen obtained leave of absence from their 
flocks. Doctors forsook their patients ; lawyers forsook their 
clients; merchants abandoned for the time their merchandise. 
Three thousand devoted men, ministers and laymen, now 
labour in the army, seeking to make the soldiers who fight for 
them happier and better men. It is a hard and trying service. 
Many have been brought to the borders of the grave, and some 
have died, worn out by the terrible ordeal of fatigue, exposure, 
and excitement to which they have been subjected. 

The head-quarters of the Christian Commission are in Phila- 
delphia. A vast business is transacted there. Great stores are 
kept on hand, in part purchased by the Commission, in part 
contributed by the people. From all corners of the Union is 
an unceasing influx of such things as American men and women 
think fitted to make a soldier comfortable. To every point of 
the vast war-horizon is an equally unceasing efflux. From this 
central office the delegate who has offered himself for service 
with the army, is furnished with his instructions and equip- 



THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION ON THE FIELD. 43 

ment. He receives his commission, and along with it a raihvay- 
pass which carries him free all over tlie country. He receives 
a blanket and strap, that under all circumstances he may at 
least be assured of a bed. If he is destined for the battle-field, 
he receives a bucket and cup, that he may quench the devour- 
ing thirst of the wounded ; and a lantern, because his ghastly 
labours must be carried on by night as well as by day. In his 
haversack are such small comforts for the wounded as may be 
easily carried about, and a few suitable books or tracts. Where- 
ever he goes, a depot is established at the nearest convenient 
point. All suitable stores are copiously pushed forward to him, 
and he ministers diligently both to the physical and mental 
necessities of the soldiers. 

So thick have come the battles of this terrible war, that it has 
been found needful to keep the stores suited for such an emer- 
gency always packed and ready for instant despatch. In the 
warehouses of the Commission there are always to be seen 
certain boxes and barrels with the grimly suggestive labelling, 
" Stores for the next battle." Forewarned that a battle is at 
hand, these are hurried down to the railway. They are de- 
livered as near as possible to the scene of the expected conflict. 
There the delegates await the horrid hours of battle with its 
swift creation of the miseries which it is their duty to assuage. 
The attack is made. Soon men begin to fall. Some are dead, 
smitten out of life as by a thunderbolt. Some are wounded : 
they are seen to stagger towards the rear; or they crawl, in the 
instinct of helplessness, to the poor shelter of a log or fence; or 
they lie motionless upon the ground; or they struggle to sit 
erect, because the blood from their wounds otherwise would 
choke them. The delegates go to them as soon as it is 
possible, without undue exposure of their own lives, but often 
while the battle still rages. They minister to the wounded where 
they lie upon the field. They assist in conveying them to 
hospital. Everything has to be done for the poor sufferers. 



44 THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION ON THE FIELD. 

They are often filthy; their clothes are matted with mud and 
gore; the shoes have to be cut from their swollen feet. The 
delegates wash them and clothe them in comfortable garments; 
assist the surgeon to dress their wounds, or do so themselves; 
prepare for them such food and drinks as they can use. Then 
they speak to the wounded and perhaps dying man about his 
soul. They write his last wishes, it may be, to his friends at 
home. They read and pray beside him, and supply him with 
reading matter if he is able to use it for himself They pour 
the consolation of the gospel into the ear dulled by the near 
approach of death, and they reverently close the eyes of the 
dead. 

When the three days' fighting at Gettysburg were over, and 
the defeated rebels retired southwards, there were twenty 
thousand wounded men left upon the field. For miles around, 
every barn and shed and dwelling-house held wounded men. 
The little town itself was full of them, and its pavements were 
all . dabbled with blood. The Southerners abandoned their 
wounded, and the Federals, intensely occupied with the pursuit 
of their enemies, were able to do little else. The care of these 
sufferers devolved upon voluntary agencies, of which the chief 
were the Sanitary and Christian Commissions. Both had enor- 
mous supplies of all needful articles speedily upon the field, 
and the latter had three hundred delegates. Many of these 
were surgeons, who furnished such professional relief as was 
necessary. Many ladies were present, who occupied themselves 
in cooking such dishes as wounded men would rehsh. It was 
days before all the work could be overtaken. Meanwhile the 
wounded men lay upon the muddy ground — for heavy rains had 
fallen. By night and by day the work was continued, till all 
who were able to be removed — rebel and loyal alike — were 
conveyed to hospital. Some hundreds — most of whom ulti- 
mately died — were so wounded that they could not be moved. 
Upon them the delegates attended to the last, soothing to the 



THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION IN THE CAMP. 45 

Utmost their sufferings, and striving to guide their thoughts to 
Him whose friendship is a solace even for the extremity of 
human sorrow. 

But the labours of the Christian Commission are not con- 
fined to the battle-field. Among the vast masses of men living 
in camp the delegates have done a great work. Among them, 
too, as among the wounded, the delegates dispense benefits for 
the body as well as for the mind. When the army marches, 
the Christian Commission marches too, with its huge waggon- 
loads of supplies. When the march is over, the " cooking- wag- 
gon" of the Commission has an ample store of coffee or soup 
ready for the wearied soldiers. In his hour of need, the soldier 
receives just the thing he requires, be it food, be it clothing, be 
it medical care. All is done kindly, affectionately. The sol- 
dier sees, too, that it is done in the noblest spirit of self-sacrifice. 
Not long ago, a division of General Grant's army before Rich- 
mond, had gained an advanced position by three days of digging 
and fighting. They were attacked by the rebels, and while the 
fight was still proceeding, the cooking-waggon of the Christian 
Commission drew nigh, and each of the wearied soldiers re- 
freshed himself with a draught of hot coffee. The delegates 
hover about the army, on the battle-field, in the hospital, and in 
the camp, visibly with the single motive of making the men 
better and more comfortable. Services such as these make the 
soldier feel that he is fighting in a cause which is dear to his 
country, and that his country requites him by her love and care. 
And feeling so, when the delegates begin to discharge their 
spiritual functions, they are ever assured of a willing audience. 
They have approved their friendship for the soldier by a thou- 
sand friendly offices. They speak with the gentle but irresistible 
authority which approved friendship gives. Once, and once 
only, they made the mistake of beginning to minister to the 
wants of the soul while those of the body were clamant. In an 
old mansion at Harrison's Landing, eighty-five wounded men 



46 MISSIONARY WO HA' IN THE ARMY. 

were stowed away under the scorching roof. Their boots were 
so hardened by the intense heat that they had to be cut away. 
The attendants refused to work there, but nothing daunted the 
zeal of the delegates. They bathed the feet of the sufferers, 
and supplied such articles of under-clothing as were required. 
Then prayer was offered, and a short address was given. And 
then refreshments were served out. The wounded men had 
listened patiently to the good words; but when the buckets 
passed round with the cooling drink which was so grateful — 
"Ah, doctor!" said they, "this is better than talk." It was 
the same lesson which was taught by the Voice that spoke to 
Elijah as he lay under the juniper-tree. It never required to 
be repeated to the delegates of the Christian Commission. 

The moral condition of the American army assumed early in 
the war a seriously threatening aspect. The chaplaincy system 
of the Government proved a conspicuous failure. It seemed 
that the greater portion of the army would be wholly deprived 
of religious teaching. And although many of the soldiers were 
young men, piously nurtured, and indisposed to vice, the cor- 
rupting influence of evil example was powerful enough, if unre- 
strained, to have worked wide-spread demoralization. Religion 
in the army, it was remarked by a soldier, was like the resources 
of the country — we were living, on former capital. There was 
imminent risk that this capital, like every other, would sufter 
diminution by such a process. But the measures of the Chris- 
tian Commission, supplemented by an improved chaplaincy 
system, were promptly taken, and have been upon a scale suffi- 
ciently vast for the emergency. And never have men who 
Avent out to influence their fellow-men to good found an 
audience more respectful, more interested, more sympathetic 
than the American army. On nearly all the battle-fields of the 
last three years have the delegates been present. In all the 
hospitals, and in nearly all the camps, they have patiently pur- 
sued their labours of love. There is scarcely a man who has 



THE CHRISTIAN COMMISSION IN THE HOSPITALS. 47 

fired a musket for the Union but has received Bible and tracts 
from the agents of the Christian Commission, and listened to 
the words of life from their lips. There is scarcely a man who 
has died in hospital of wounds or sickness, but an agent of the 
Christian Commission has sat by his side and soothed his part- 
ing agony with the voice of promise and of prayer. A mis- 
sionary work of unexampled greatness has been done with un- 
exampled acceptance and unexampled efficacy. 

" I never imagined a more susceptible class of men than 
those wounded soldiers," says one delegate ; " a few words are 
often enough to fill their eyes with honest tears." In the 
hospitals, among such an audience as that, the seed did not 
fall on stony places. When Fortress Monroe was first visited 
the men were dying at the rate of four per day, without any 
one to remind them of Him who spoiled the grave of its 
victory. The eagerness with which the delegates were listened 
to was intense. Many of the men there knew little about 
religion, and many who knew had neglected it. But now their 
minds were turned anxiously in that direction. Many of the 
more ignorant begged earnestly to be taught to pray. They 
would gather round the delegates and with eager look listen to 
the reading of the Bible. " And when the simple path to the 
mercy-seat is shown to them, they seize upon it with a fervour 
which is surprising indeed. God's Spirit seems constantly 
present to turn our feeble words in the right direction to reach 
the heart." 

At Camp Convalescent the first duty of the Commission was 
to make the invalids comfortable. About this they and the 
agents of the Sanitary Commission set with an energy which 
speedily caused " Camp Misery " to forget its name. By what 
they did themselves, and what they induced Government to do. 
they positively made the place cheerful and the men contented 
and thankful. As the invahds could not worship in the open 
air, the delegates purchased a large chapel-tent. In a short 

4 



48 THE HOSPITAL AT WINDMILL POINT. 

time they distributed twenty thousand Testaments and a million 
pages of tracts and other reading matter. Their daily manner 
of life was on this wise : — In the morning a prayer-meeting is 
held, to which all professing Christians in the camp are in- 
vited. Then the delegates set out to visit the men in their 
tents. They carry with them books, tracts, writing paper (for 
which the demand is great), and a variety of little comforts. 
They learn the condition of the men. If any man needs more 
delicate food than the Government ration, or is imperfectly 
supplied with under-clothing, the delegates send to their depot 
for what he requires. Then they engage in religious conversa- 
tion, and give such books as are suitable. Tliis continues for 
many hours. The evening is spent in the hospitals, and the 
day is closed with another prayer-meeting. And the wearied 
delegates, as they rest from their toils, are privileged to feel 
that they have not laboured in vain. " All seem to be thirsting 
for the water of life." 

Windmill Point Hospital was established in January 1863. 
The battle of Fredericksburg had recently been fought. The 
baffled army of the North had retreated across the Rappa- 
hannock. The wearied and dispirited men deemed the cam- 
paign ended. But once more the word was given to advance. 
It was unwisely given. The rain fell in torrents ; the roads 
became impassable. The huge mass of men and horses, guns 
and waggons, floundered desperately on, even after the utter 
uselessness of their effort had become apparent to all. The 
'* mud campaign " ended ingloriously, and the army struggled 
back to its former position. That deadly march had wasted 
the army more than a great battle would have done. There 
were thousands now who required the shelter of an hospital. 
The hospital was a city of tents. It stood on a large plain — 
once a fruitful field, now desolated and waste. The weather 
was ijiercingly cold. The hospital-tents were without fire. The 
beds for the sick were branches laid upon the muddy ground. 



REVIVALS AMONG THE SOLDIERS. 49 

Day and night the sick men — borne in ambulances and in 
boats — came pouring in. Thousands of pale, shivering, diseased 
lads, waited the relief of death in those miserable tents. Many 
died of cold. Very many more must have perished but for the 
relief afforded by the Christian Commission. The delegates 
had to hew their fuel from the wood before fires were possible. 
They prepared food and stimulating drinks, and passing con- 
tinually from tent to tent they were able to relieve the more 
urgent necessities of the sick. A telegraphic summons quickly 
placed at their disposal abundant supplies of bread, cordials, 
dried fruit, under-clothing. Thus many lives were saved. At 
length Government aid upon an adequate scale came in. The 
delegates were then able to give themselves mainly to their 
spiritual duties. Prayer was re^ilarly offered in the hospital. 
Meetings were held in a large cook-house. Those who were 
confined to bed were regularly conversed with. It became 
evident that these labours were richly successful. " Silently 
and wonderfully a deep solemnity came upon the camp." In 
America it is the wont of religious feeling to find expression 
with a freedom which seems strange to a reticent people like 
ourselves. At one meeting in the cook-house over fifty soldiers 
publicly announced their determination to begin a Christian 
life — a determination upon whose sincerity succeeding events 
do not appear to have cast any doubt. 

Scarcely less susceptible than the sick men have been those 
in health. The delegates have laboured without ceasing among 
them, and in a remarkable degree have contributed to preserve 
the moral welfare of the troops. 

There have occurred in some portions of the army religious 
revivals such as would cause any Church in peaceful Christendom 
greatly to rejoice. The 63rd Pennsylvania Regiment was re- 
cruited from among the grave, well-living farmer class, in the 
western parts of the State whose name it bears. It was sent 
into Virginia. Reports of the wickedness of the Army of the 



so REVIVALS AA/O.VG THE SOLDIERS. 

Potomac had spread dismay in the quiet homes of western 
Pennsylvania. Many prayers went up to Heaven, and many 
letters full of warning and entreaty ceased not to reach the 
youths on whose behalf worse dangers than those of battle 
were dreaded. A deep impression had been produced by these 
letters. At the Sabbath services which were held for the regi- 
ment, an unusual solemnity was remarked. An urgent demand 
for religious books was experienced, and many hundreds of 
such works were distributed and eagerly received. So rapidly 
did this feeling deepen, that it was soon found necessary to 
hold a daily prayer-meeting. Every day several of the men 
came to the chaplain for conversation and prayer. After a 
while, it was resolved to found a church in the regiment. The 
first communion was dispensed on a Sabbath in the month of 
February. The day was still and beautiful. There was a 
quietness and solemnity in the camp such as characterize our 
best New England or Scottish villages on a similar occasion. 
Among the communicants were forty-six regarding whom it was 
known that they had become Christians since they became 
soldiers. It was February 1862. There lay before these youths, 
as they sat thus reverently around the table of their Lord, years 
of the sternest service which it ever fell to the lot of man to 
perform. Strong in the conviction that their duty to God as 
well as to their country called them, they faced with calmness 
that future so full of inevitable horrors. 

At Stoneman's Station, on the Rappahannock, a very remark- 
able and perfectly authenticated revival took place. The 
Christian Commission had carried out there, as now at all 
other points, its cherished purpose of furnishing every soldier 
with a copy of the New Testament. A large chapel was erected 
upon an eminence which looked over miles of tents and many 
thousands of armed men. Every night meetings were held. 
As the hour drew nigh officers and men were to be seen in 
little groups wending their way to the house of prayer. The 



REVIVALS AMONG THE SOLDIERS. 5 1 

chapel was always crowded, and generally there was a throng 
around the door. The services were listened to with profound 
interest. It is usual at such meetings in America for persons 
to communicate publicly to others their religious experience. 
Among ourselves the antipathy to any exhibition of the inner 
spiritual life is carried to an extreme which is not always salu- 
tary. The Americans, perhaps, go to the opposite extreme. 
Be that as it may, at these meetings veterans who had been in 
many battles rose to tell how a consciousness of union with the 
Saviour had supported them in all dangers, and made all hard- 
ships seem light to them. Others would inquire eagerly how 
they could attain to the same blessedness. Others would ear- 
nestly beseech the prayers of their comrades. It is known that 
hundreds of soldiers received there their knowledge of Christ. 
Many of these live now in the consistent discharge of the 
duties of the Christian life. Many have passed from the wild 
strife of battle to join the company of the redeemed in 
heaven. 

The 40th Indiana Regiment was stationed for some time at 
Huntsville, in Alabama. There were some Christian men in 
the regiment who were prevailed on by a delegate of the 
Christian Commission to hold a prayer-meetirg. Seven of 
them met every night under a certain tree in the great forest 
which lay around their encampment. In a {z\n weeks some of 
their comrades dropped in. A little later and the whole regi- 
ment, officers and men, gathered to the meeting. The tree 
was abandoned, and a deserted church in the town was secured. 
The other regiments took part in the movement. Nightlv, 
while the troops lay there, a vast military prayer-meeting was 
held in the crowded church. The results cannot be accurately 
told, but it is beyond doubt that great and enduring good was 
received by many hundreds of the soldiers. 

The teamsters and other labourers connected with the Army 
of the Potomac were remarkable for their unbridled wickedness. 



52 REVIVALS AMONG THE SOLDIERS. 

They were herded together in two great encampments which 
were a scandal to the army. They knew no Sabbath. Gambhng 
was their pastime. Drinking was frightfully prevalent. " The 
atmosphere shook with profanity." They refused to enter a 
church which was provided for them. One day their missionary 
went into the camp accompanied by his wife, and mounting 
upon a box commenced to sing. The missionary's wife was an 
exceedingly sweet singer, and the pleasing sounds speedily 
attracted a crowd. The missionary talked to them and prayed 
with them. He had gained their ear, and they invited him to 
come back. Shortly they arranged a canvas chapel of their 
own with a rude pulpit. For pews they had planks stretched 
between bales of hay. It was their own church, and they 
evinced their interest in it by regular attendance. Gradually 
the aspect of the teamsters' camp changed. These rough men 
yielded to the influence of kind treatment and faithful religious 
teaching. Many of them made a credible profession of faith 
in Christ. The others ceased, at all events, from that ex- 
cess of wickedness in which they had hitherto delighted to 
riot. 

Murfreesboro', where a great Union victory was gained two 
years ago, was then a ragged little village of wooden houses. 
Around it there stretched a great city of canvas tents, the home 
for the time of the gallant army whose appointed task it was to 
rescue Tennessee from the rebellion. When the Christian 
Commission first sent delegates to that army, the battle had 
just been fought. The army was almost without religious 
teaching. Scarcely any chaplains were there ; scarcely any 
Bibles. Many of the men had not heard sermon or prayer 
since they entered the army. They had nothing to read ; 
nothing to interest them. Inevitably they fell into vice. Never- 
theless the delegates found themselves from the first engaged 
in a most inviting and hopeful work. That singular suscepti- 
bility to religious influences which the American army has ever 



SOLDIERS' READING-ROOM. 53 

evinced, became at once apparent. The seed sown in many 
churches, Sabbath schools, and Christian homes, was ready to 
quicken. Their long bereavement of religious privilege made 
the men listen with avidity. The usual daily prayer-meeting 
was established. At once there arose an urgent call for Bibles 
and hymn-books. The demand was so large, that difficulty 
was experienced in supplying it. The American Bible Society 
prints daily seven thousand copies of the New Testament ; and 
these were regularly sent to the Army of the Cumberland. In 
a short time thirty-five thousand Testaments, thirty thousand 
hymn-books, and a world of reading matter besides, gladdened 
the dwellers in that canvas city. The Americans take mucli 
delight in the singing of hymns. To the soldiers many of the 
well-known hymns came hallowed by touching memories of 
that home they might never see again. Everywhere in the 
camp men were heard singing those familiar strains. The gospel 
was preached from tent to tent with success " never before 
equalled on any similar field." The change wrought was mar- 
vellous. The open wickedness once so lamentably prevalent 
almost disappeared. " A new moral face is given to the army." 
All the phenomena of a genuine revival of religion were wit- 
nessed upon a scale of unusual greatness. 

In small matters, as in great, the Christian Commission acts 
towards the soldiers with a thoughtful kindness which cannot 
fail to touch the heart. At the various head-quarters of the 
Commission there is always a room set apart as the Soldiers' 
Reading-Room. The leading religious and secular newspapers 
are provided. There is a large writing-table with the appro- 
priate furnishings. Generally there is a library. Conspicuous 
to the eye of all entrants is the following notice, whose tone, so 
considerate and so loving, illustrates well the care which the 
American army enjoys: — "The newspapers hanging on the 
files are dailies and weeklies from your State and county. Sit 
down and read. The writing-table and stationery are for your 



54 DISTRIBUTION OF RELIGIOUS WORKS. 

use. They want to hear from you at home. If out of stamps, 
drop your letter in the box — we will stamp and mail it. Those 
Testaments, hymn-books, and religious papers, were sent to 
you — take one. The library has many interesting books ; find 
the one you like, have it recorded, and return it in five days. 
If you are in trouble, speak to any agent in the room ; you are 
the one he wants to see." 

The distribution of religious works by the Commission has 
been upon a scale of astonishing magnitude. During one 
year (1863) there were distributed half a million copies of the 
Scriptures, and nearly the same number of hymn and psalm 
books; one million and a quarter of small books for the knap- 
sack — many of them written specially for the soldiers ; three 
million copies of religious newspapers, and twelve million pages 
of tracts. These have been received in the vast majority of 
instances with avidity. They form a munificent provision for 
the spiritual necessities of the soldier, and a splendid testimony 
to the wisdom and goodness of that portion of the American 
people "who are most profoundly in earnest in their determina- 
tion to suppress the rebellion. 

The revenue of the Commission for the year 1863 was close 
upon one million dollars. During last year its operations have 
been upon a greatly enlarged scale; its revenue having risen to 
nearly two millions. 

RESULTS OF THE VARIOUS AGENCIES. 

These various agencies for -promoting the welfare of the 
American army have now been employed with zeal and untiring 
energy for three years or more. It is time to inquire what 
their efficacy has been. What is the present condition of the 
army, as to health, morality, and contentment? Vast pains 
have been taken to requite these men for tlieir patriotic sacrifice. 
Are they better men, or better off, or more contented with 



HEALTH OF THE AMERICAN ARMY. 55 

their service, than the soldiers of other countries have 
been? 

The health of the American army is remarkably good. Its 
losses by disease have been very small. The Duke of Wellington 
lost by disease at the average annual rate of 113 per 1000, 
In their Mexican war the American volunteers lost 152 per 
1000; and the regulars 81 per 1000. During seven months of 
our own Crimean Campaign we lost at the annual rate of 600 
per 1000. The loss of the American army in the present war 
has been rather less than 50 per 1000. In many commands 
the per centage of sick men is surprisingly low. During last 
winter and spring the corps which was stationed in Alabama 
had at one time only four per cent, excused from duty, and of 
these only one-half were so ill as to require medical attendance. 
In some of the regiments there was not a single inmate of an 
hospital. From Florida it is reported — " The per centage of 
sickness is very low." In the department of the Gulf the 
sanitary condition of the army was very remarkable. Only 
four per cent, of the force was on the sick list; and in some 
divisions only one and a half per cent. In front of Charleston, 
and southward, along that malarious coast, the risk was pecu- 
liarly great. The troops occupied marshy islets, maintained 
laborious siege operations, kept up an unremitting line of 
pickets in a chmate which was deemed always insalubrious, and 
at certain seasons pestilential. At the end of a year of such 
service, it is reported that the sickness among these troops is 
not greater than is usually suffered by the same classes of men 
engaged in the pursuits of civil life. 

The care bestowed upon the physical condition of the 
American army has not, then, been in vain. The sanitary pre- 
cautions which have been adopted, the ample rations supplied 
by Government, and the yet more ample and generous contri- 
butions of the two Commissions, have economized life to an 
enormous extent, and exercised a decisive influence upon the 



56 MORAL CONDITION OF THE ARMY. 

destiny of the war. Had America incurred the losses which 
we incurred in the Crimea, the first year of the war would pro- 
bably have been the last. Already she has lost by sickness 
something like one hundred thousand men. Had the mortality 
been the same in this as in her Mexican war, her losses would 
have trebled that number. The prospect of the war would 
have been very different to-day had there been two hundred 
thousand veterans fewer following the national standard, or had 
there been a necessity for that number of conscripts beyond 
those that have been required. 

Regarding the moral condition of the army, no such precise 
statements can be made. This much is certainly known, that 
there is a large and a growing number of really good men in 
the army. There is wickedness in every form prevailing among 
the troops. But there is a presence in the army under which 
wickedness is rebuked. There is a very considerable admixture 
of religious soldiers — men who have borne a Christian character 
for years, and who, having enlisted for no meaner purpose than 
to save the national life, make conscience of their work. These 
men openly avow their religion, and they are numerous enough 
to be felt as a power. Among American Christians there is no 
attempt at concealment. They read their Bibles; they sing 
hymns ; they pray alone, or in the meeting, without the slightest 
desire that their pleasure in these occupations should remain 
unknown. They are seen to leave the camp for some con- 
venient retirement, and their song of praise is heard to rise 
upon the evening air. They speak to their comrades about the 
Saviour. If there are two or three men in a tent who are 
Christians, it has happened over and over again that their 
influence has persuaded their fellow-inhabitants into the same 
life. Religion such as this is powerfully aggressive. Then 
there has been everywhere the presence of the Christian Com- 
mission, with its loving ministries, its earnest and godly coun- 
sels. Nearlv everv soldier has now his Bible, which manv read 



PATRIOTIC ARDOUR OF THE ARMY. 57 

and prize. It is probably the fact, that the Bible is more largely 
read in the American army than by any half million of men 
engaged in the pursuits of civil life. On the field of Gettysburg 
a large number of Bibles and prayer-books were picked up. 
They belonged to the wounded, and were the solace of those 
bitter hours which had to pass before assistance could be 
rendered. The hymn-book is quite as constant a companion. 
During the night which followed the battle of Shiloh, a wounded 
m.an, unable to rise from the field, felt impelled, with such 
strength as he possessed, to sing a hymn. Another of the 
wounded near him caught up the strain, and then another, and 
another, till far and wide over that" field, cumbered with dead 
and dying men, there rose a song of praise. Religious reading 
of all kinds has been copiously supplied to the soldiers. We 
cannot estimate otherwise than very generally the influence of 
these various agencies. All we can say is, that the tide of 
immorality which threatened to flow over the army at the out- 
set of its career has been in considerable measure stayed ; that 
while blasphemy abounds to a lamentable extent, there is com- 
paratively little drunkenness, and no unusual prevalence of 
other gross sins ; that there is really a large proportion of pious 
soldiers — " praying men," as they are styled— known as sucli 
by their comrades and officers, and universally recognised, not 
merely as the quietest and most orderly inmates of the camp, 
but also as decidedly the most effective men on a field of battle. 
It has been often said that the American soldiers are wearied 
of this war. Yes, they are wearied of it. They are not the 
kind of men who take up fighting as the business of their lives. 
And the country is wearied of the war. In a vast multitude of 
American homes there is sorrow for sons and brothers fallen in 
battle; and terror, which is never lifted from the heart, for 
those yet exposed to its perils. We hear of families, largely 
related, who sustain a loss in almost every battle that is fought. 
Is it surprising that soldiers and people shoult! earnestly desire 



58 ISSUES OF THE H^AR. 

the end of a war which has brought such miseries upon the 
landl Nothing would be so welcome as a sound and lasting 
peace; and nothing so abhorred as a premature peace. The 
soldiers wish it was over; but they know very well there is but 
one way it ever can be over. They know that America must 
conquer in this war, or lay down for ever her name and place 
among the nations of the earth. They have come there to save 
their country, and they have no thought of leaving till the 
country is saved. The kindness lavished upon them causes 
them to feel that their sacrifice is gratefully accepted by the 
country, and continually rekindles their patriotic ardour. In 
nearly every instance, those regiments whose period of service 
had expired, and to whom it was open to march homeward, 
even from the verge of battle if they so pleased, have re-enlisted 
for the war. The w'ounded upon an American battle-field, or 
in an hospital, manifest a spirit singularly uncomplaining, 
patient, and cheerful. They are sustained by the conviction 
that the cause for which they are suffering is worthy of it all. 
It would be easy to fill a volume with evidences that the 
wounded soldiers give their limbs and their lives without a 
grudge. Men who have endured untold agonies say that they 
have no regrets, as the country must be saved. Dying men 
declare with their latest breath that in this cause they lay 
down their lives willingly — satisfied if, by living or by dying, 
they can serve their country. The same spirit animates all 
classes. Even mothers whose sons have fallen, and whose 
loss must darken with sorrow all their remaining years, offer 
willingly this so costly sacrifice. 

ISSUES OF THE WAR. 

The issues directly raised by this war are of tremendous 
significance, to America and to the world. Is America a nation, 
or merely a loose, incohering aggregate of independent powers! 



GAINS OF THE WAR. 59 

Is government to be any longer possible in America? Is there 
to exist upon the North American Continent a great Christian 
Nation — powerful, enlightened, pacific, with a great and growing 
influence, ever wielded in the world's affairs upon the side of 
truth and right; or is there to be, as in South America, a 
multitude of Republics, whose political situation is chronic 
revolution and war, whose social condition is barbarism? Is 
there to be a Christian civilization and a Slave-owning civihza- 
tion face to face, in perpetual, immitigable hostility; or is the 
purer and nobler civilization to subdue and assimilate its baser 
rival? The American people have given a decisive answer to 
these questions. From the beginning they said that America 
was a nation whose national life must be maintained, at what- 
ever cost. They say now that slave-owning, since it cannot 
consent to live at peace with its neighbours, shall cease from 
off that continent. For rational men no other decision seems 
to have been possible. On that point, however, opinion may, 
and does differ. But on this other point there can be no question 
in any mind which possesses any competent acquaintance with 
the subject. The American people have evinced in the highest 
degree an intelligent comprehension of their situation ; a calm, 
deep, inflexible adherence, under all trials, to the course which 
they judged it wise to pursue; a love of country which has 
never been excelled ; and a heroic willingness to undergo the 
extremity of suffering in the great cause. Republican institu- 
tions are upon their trial. That trial is not yet nearly accom- 
plished. Thus far, however, they have stood it nobly; and 
every month makes it more evident that they will come out of 
it in triumph. No costlier probation has ever been undergone. 
But its cost will be exceeded by its gains. In the effort to 
prove that she is a nation, America will become a nation. She 
will eliminate from her social system a vicious institution, which 
sullied her fair name and hindered her material progress. She 
will reap hereafter the peaceable fruits of her suffering, in a 



6o 



GAIiVS OF THE IVAK. 



national character purified, chastened, strengthened. And she 
has added already to her possessions that which is, perhaps, 
the most noble and ennobling of them all — a long record of 
great deeds heroically done, and of great sacrifices heroically 
offered from love to her name. 




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